A powerful springtime nor'easter is delivering significant snowfall and plenty of travel troubles in South Jersey while knocking out electricity to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

Forecasters say up to a foot of snow is still possible in parts of South Jersey by the time the storm ends early Thursday morning. Some towns, like Cherry Hill and Lindenwold, reported 8 inches of snow before dusk.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for Burlington, Cumberland, Atlantic and Cape May counties from 11 p.m. Wednesday until dawn Thursday.

Tom Evans of Collingswood clears off his minivan before going to the grocery store as a nor'easter brings snowfall Wednesday, March 21, 2018 in Collingswood, N.J. Joe Lamberti/Courier Post-USA TODAY Network

"Travel will be very difficult to impossible, especially during this evenings commute," the Weather Service says. "Be prepared for significant reductions in visibility at times. Once snowfall rates reach or exceed one inch per hour, it becomes difficult for road crews to keep up due to rapid accumulations."

New Jersey State Police reported around 5:30 p.m. that troopers responded since midnight to 169 motor vehicle crashes and 244 other incidents for aid, such as flat tires or spinouts.

Here’s what the Weather Service says to expect.

WEDNESDAY: Continued snow throughout the night. The snow will be heavy and wet, meaning it will be difficult to shovel and it will stick to trees and wires. Snow will have a better chance of sticking to pavement after sundown.

THURSDAY: The winter storm warning ends at 2 a.m.. There may be minor accumulation after that, but "essentially the storm should generally be done by that time." Blowing snow may be a concern throughout the day. No further snow is in the long-range forecast.

The storm caused significant power outages, mostly in the Atlantic City Electric territory. As of 8:20 p.m. Wednesday, more than 30,000 customers in South Jersey were without electricity — and the number was growing. The hardest-hit communities were in Salem, Gloucester and Cumberland and Atlantic counties.

Towns with high numbers of outages include Evesham, Millville, Commercial Township, Franklin, Clayton, Monroe, Buena Vista, Pittsgrove and Alloway. In Hopewell, the Cumberland Manor nursing home was operating on an emergency generator, officials said.

"The snow that does fall is going to have a lot of liquid in it, as in the past three storms," said Lance Franck, a meteorologist at the Weather Service’s Mount Holly office. "That is certainly going to contribute to more downed trees and power lines, so we are expecting more power outages and that could be a significant number given the potential of snow."

Public works crews across the region were gearing up for the storm before the first flakes fell.

“We are planning for a long and complicated storm with higher accumulation totals than originally forecast,” Camden County Freeholder Susan Shen Angulo, liaison to her county’s public works department, said Tuesday. “At this point, there is a very real possibility of a up to 10 inches of snow falling in our area before this weather event is over, so we ask the public to be prepared.”

The jet stream, the upper level river of air that guides weather, is stuck in a plunging pattern that brings plenty of moisture from the south up the East Coast, said Brian Hurley, senior forecaster at the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center.

USA TODAY NETWORK-New Jersey and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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